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April 01, 2010 - Long-awaited spring shows its colorsSUFFOLKTIMES.COM I APRIL 1, 2010 Long- awaited SDrin shows its colors 0 p" d 71 - ,, 7r a +m r �,I`�� �. *pro• _,,,�Y �. o� ���� ��k��w i n ; 'l4 p BARBARA STOUTENBURGHPHOTOS lorful wood ducks can be found anywhere from Florida to Canada. They nest in hollow trees or man -made boxes often iced in ponds. The day was perfect to do some exploring headed for the Palma Sola Botanical Park here in Florida. We had visited this little jewel once before. It's a small, well-kept park that boasts lovely gar- dens and unique trees along with shallow lakes and freshwater wetlands. That this unique 10 -acre site, which once served as the Manatee County Nursery, was saved by lo- cal citizens and interested groups for all to enjoy shows what people can do. A foundation was cre- ated to preserve the site as a valuable green space and park. And what a great park it is. Today it is FOCUS ON NATURE tional programs, pas- sive recreation and public events in the midst of all its natural beauty. We had brought our lunch and decid- ed to relax and eat on PAUL STOUTENBURGH one of the benches that border the pond. No sooner had we gotten settled when Barbara spotted a colorful male wood duck sitting on a wood duck box that had been placed in the pond._ 1 as she reached for her camera and took off. That put a stop to the idea of lunch for the moment. Later, as we sat eating, we noticed something big . moving.slowly in the water, and as the movement got closer, we could tell there were three large Florida softshell turtles. These big turtles range in size from 6 to 24 inches. The females are larger than the males, the males being only half the size of the females. The ones we were seeing were large females. Softshell turtles have a long neck, an elongated head and a long snorkel -like nose. They feed on fish, snails, insects and amphibians. In captivity they have been known to live 10 or more years. They are shy around humans but will bite with their strong jaws when threatened. So beware. As the turtles came close to shore and we contin- ued to watch them, we noticed hundreds of small fish feeding in the area. We were told there had been two mishaps in the pond: a summertime fish kill caused by the lack of oxygen with all the heat and the winter kill that took the big fish due to the record - breaking cold winter. We were happy to see all the young fish in the pond. We sat enjoying the beautiful day we had chosen for our visit; the temperature was in the 70s. As we . sat there we saw an anhinga, or snakebird, fly over the pond and light in a nearby tree, where it stayed with wings outstretched to dry off. On the other side of the park's buildings, near the picnic area and children's recreation area, we spotted a common moorhen, known also as a common gallinule, a .relative of the purple gallinule. These long -toed dwellers of freshwater marshes can often be seen walking on lily pads ­vvr: i ne rioncla sottshell turtle ranges north to South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama but is found mostly in Florida. If threatened, it can Five vni a ­f-_ k; +- pring was showing itself everywhere we ked. Right alongside where we sat was a huge debrush shrub in full bloom. The name surely cribes it well, for it matches almost perfectly an bottle brush that hangs out in my garage. y now spring is slowly showing its colors on the North Fork. I'm sure the clump of snowarops nas begun to appear along my woods. Each year they' cin an be counted on — whether there be ice, snow, rain or a sunny day, they are one of the first to welcome spring. Then the daffodils and tulips fol- low and, of course, by now there are the old reliable osnrevs back to repair their nests for a new spring. Left: The red bottlebrush shrub is one of many varieties of bottlebrushes. Despite its color, the flower looks ex- actly like a bottle brush you'd use at the kitchen sink.